White right to end the hypocrisy

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LAST week, Jake White, the South Africa coach, supposedly handed Ireland a psychological advantage by criticising the men in green. This week, the Wales management have avoided the term “All Blacks” in favour of “New Zealand”, one of their number helpfully pointing out that the former suggests a rugby superpower while the latter is a “poxy little island in the Pacific”.

Uh-oh. This doesn’t seem a very sound approach, but pre-match psycho-scuffles can work. Most famously, David Campese and his big mouth, two of Australia’s all-time great performers, managed to talk England out of their “boring” game plan before the